“The duty of critical writing is to listen to the noise of life without being deafened by it.” Teju Cole’s column on The Superhero Photographs of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Purple pancakes? See Van Garrett’s work in the Franklin Arts Center Resident Artists Gallery later this week, in When Doves Cry, a celebration of Prince, and yes, you can get some of those purple pancakes at the opening reception after-party this Friday.

Looking for something to read? The Man Booker long list is out.

Shannon Wheeler, AKA the creator of Too Much Coffee Man, on identity.

“I haven’t written a book in two years.” Matthew Inman, of The Oatmeal, takes us behind the curtain in Creativity Is Like Breathing.

Burned out on politics at xkcd. The state of the body politic kept me up all night a few days ago. So if you’ve got comic relief to offer, send it this way.

Neil Gaiman: “Civilization is paper thin.” UNHCR.

Trouble pronouncing an author’s name? TeachingBooks.net has your back. Bonus: hear each author explain their own pronunciation, and maybe a little something more.

Time to sift through our submissions, which close today and are piling up. No worries, we’ll probably open again in September, or maybe October, so hone that manuscript and check us in a while…

with love,
sammy

portrait of Prince from graffiti in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain)